Written by Mr. C

Page 1

Back home following F1's impressive outing in Brazil, intrepid globetrotter Joe Saward checks in to ponder all the comings and all the goings within the sport. From the quest for an epic TV showdown, to finding the right person to run McLaren and all points in between, we present this packed podcast to take you to the grand finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend.

Digging through the archives, Christine found an old video comparison we created to compare page load times between this site and a number of others. Back in 2010 sidepodcast.com fared well against the competition with a load time of approximately three seconds. For fun we recreated the test to see if we have improved at all.

Two races from the end of the Formula 1 season, we grab Joe for a quick chat to discuss 2016's imminent conclusion. Before we cover what might yet happen, we look back on what did go down in Mexico, on the judgement calls that had to be made, the shortcut that probably wasn't and listening to radio messages in context.

With the sport turned on its head following news of Liberty Media's takeover, we track down Joe between long haul flights to grab his thoughts on all matters Formula 1. We discuss who's been wandering around as if they own the place, saying goodbye to a ghastly bunch of people and why working together makes things better. Plus there's talk about pushing revenue upwards, the demolition of pay television and squeezing just a few more races into the calendar.

With interest in eSports at an all time high and a brand new Formula 1 game about to launch, Sidepodcast takes to Twitch to live stream some motorsport gaming action. Beginning with a brand new season of Motorsport Manager we position ourselves on the virtual pitwall aiming to take Matrix Management to the upper echelons of racing history.

The championship battle is hotting up and with the always dramatic Canadian Grand Prix around the corner, Joe Saward drops a new mic into the F1 discussion. On the agenda today, we talk about a very big deal in Montreal and the polite way to handle an embargo, an FIA licence for everyone, plus driver lock-in clauses and why the market currently depends on Räikkönen.

Do you know what television will look like in 2024? Could you say for certain how the general populous will choose to consume their media eight long years from now? Can you predict the path of live streaming technology or media trends nearly a decade away?

One of the trickiest challenges we've long struggled with at Sidepodcast HQ, is the promotion of feature length podcasts in the social media era. With shows averaging an hour in length and no logical means of splitting them up, audio remains a tricky medium to generate buzz around.

With but one race left to tick off the 2015 F1 calendar, Joe calls in to tackle the pressing subjects and storylines of the moment. Both championships might well be signed and sealed at this point, but there is still much to discuss about this year and next.

After many years of mostly average service, our much maligned audio recording interface finally stopped functioning. A modest software upgrade rendered its ageing connections obsolete and it became clear to all, we had to move on.

Bridging the gap between a missing GP and the summer break, Joe stops by to catch us up on the latest goings on in the F1 paddock. Top topics include the strategy group without a strategy, Renault's competing engine programs, treating the sport like a cash machine and the best option for Williams.

Briefly back home after enjoying the opening four races, Joe checks in to evaluate the state of Formula One in 2015. Conversation spans subjects as diverse as the manipulation of TV coverage, the appalling efforts of Renault marketing and why Manor's best is more than good enough.

Just days from the start of a brand new F1 season, it has become unquestionably clear that the two of us are not remotely ready for race one. Wildly unprepared and massively behind schedule, I cannot foresee any way we could competently cover the opening Grand Prix. It's time to take a break.

In preparation the 2015 season, we've spent a little time tweaking our behind-the-scenes website code. One subtle but important change made since last year relates to the way we're handling news and podcast feeds. Admittedly the finer detail of processing syndication updates is about the last thing most F1 fans will want to read about less than a week before the first track action of the year, but timing was never our strong point.

Arguably one of the biggest shocks during the past few months of Formula One downtime was unrelated to anything a driver or a team has said or done. Back in February the F1 editor of one of motosport's biggest online brands dropped a media bombshell and announced he would be leaving Autosport in May. Jonathan Noble decided to follow several of his colleagues to rival website Motorsport.com.

Ferrari's new man in charge Maurizio Arrivabene may have only been in the hot seat for five minutes, but he has already managed to make an impression. This week Arrivabene tabled one of the best suggestions for an improvement to Formula One I've heard in years. Cynics will no doubt already be listing out all the reasons why his suggestion is untenable, for the moment at least I want to believe.